Those will a keen eye will recognise this starting point from earlier this year, when I walked the other direction towards Boscastle and back over High Cliff (here). Nothing quite that high today, but the distance was there and then some. The ups and downs where there as well, making this a tough walk but one that is easily doable, especially when you factor in the lovely return through Millook Woods and along some lovely lanes. The views from the coastal path were superb as always, particularly the view down to Widemouth Sand from Penhalt Cliff, a proper wow moment with the surf coming in. This walk could be shortened if needed, by stopping at Millook and returning through Millook Common to The Den, however I was making good time and was able to add on the extra loop to Wanson Mouth. This was a great walk and one that should make the final top 5 of the year. If it doesn’t I’ve got some fine walks to look forward to.
Start – Crackington Haven parking
Route –South West Coastal Path – Pencannow Point – Cleave Strand – Dizzard – Cancleave Strand – Millook – Penhalt Cliff – Wanson – Poundstock – Trebarfoote – Millook Woods – The Den – Trengayor – Coxford – Crackingon Haven
Distance – 12.5 miles Start time – 9.15am Time taken – 6hrs 15mins Highest Point – Dizzard 164 metres
Just walked out of the community car park (a reasonable £3 for the day rather than the extortionate prices down the road in the private car park). Here I’m looking towards the beach at Crackington HavenA glorious sight, Crackington Haven beach and Cambeak is the point over thereYou start with a steep climb, in fact the firts couple of miles involves 3 of these steep climbs which warms you up nicely!!Crackington Haven is down thereOver the first hump and the next down is is upon me. The next section looks a little strange, like a narrow hill stuck by the sea. Bude is in the distanceBottom right is my descent and then back up to here, these downs and ups are a bit steep so early in the walkLook at this! It’s like an arete by the sea. Absolute glorious walking along here as I head to Cleave StrandA bit of huffing and puffing gets me here to Cleave Strand, behind me is another descent thoughDown and up with zigzags. The other side is Dizzard and Long CliffLooking up the valley towards WhitemoorUp the other side now but look at the views here. I haven’t a clue how the rocks on the beach make that shape and line, bit they do it a lot along this sectionLooking ahead towards Widemouth Sand and until Millook I have a fairly level ish sectionSpeckled WoodThe trig on Long Cliff, looking back inlandThe view gets better as you near Widecombe Sand, all the way to Hartland Point far leftAnd again, I loved this section of the path, lots of trees and brush, the slumped cliffs which have slid down but the path stays high with great viewsI descended now to Millook, you could head right here through Millook Common to The Den to shorten the walk, but my time was good and meant another steep climb to Penhalt CliffI loved the cliff rocks here, again those with a modicum of geology will know why they are zigzagged in this way, all I knew was I had another steep climb to comeOn the climb looking inland over Millook Common (the trees in the valley)Looking back over Long Cliff, as I reach the top of Penhalt CliffAnd wow, ahead to Widemouth Sand, fantastic views, I dropped down along the road to Wanson and then turned inland to follow a path towards PoundstockStarting on the Poundstock path and you get views back to Wanson MouthI had a stop here for a brew and food with this fine view to Wanson Mouth
Now this was a bit of a treat, and something that I would never see if I wasn’t doing and out and back with this coastal path walking, with one of those legs being inland a bit. This is Poundstock church
Now this brilliant building is Poundstock Gildhouse and the name of the church is St Winwaloe. The Gildhouse is a Grade 1 listed Tudor church house, the inside (looking at the online pics) is more impressive than the outside, and you can visit on a Wednesday in the summer monthsOut of Poundstock involved a long slow climb at this point I was struggling a little so rested on a tree stump looking at this view of fluffy clouds, blue skies and green fieldsTurning right here on to a path that was a treatThere was nothing special about the path, it was easy walking for a couple of miles to a real fancy house, but at this stage in the walk the easy walking was lovelyA glimpse down to MillookThis is The Den, it looks unkempt and in need of people who actually live here rather than second home owners, infact the whole coastal path is a mess of second home owners, but I need to get off that soap boxMore green fields and blue skies as I hit TrengayorI’m at Whitemoor now on the high road looking down to Cleave Strand and the dip I went down and up earlierLots of nice flowers in farm machinery along this roadHeading down to Coxford first and the Crackington Haven, all road walking from hereBack at the car park and the same photo as the top of this walk. This was a cracker, the coastal walk was lovely but if anything the return inland was better, I loved the lanes and the section from Poundstock to The Den was fantastic, were I didn’t take many photos and I just loved putting one foot in front of the other. I real belter of a walk
My son did this walk (the coastal bit) a few years ago when we were camping at Penhalt. He said it was tough with all the ups and downs (we went bodyboarding down on the beach). I’ve mentally marked this a creat circular route to take in the mix of coast and inland fields/valleys
The return walk through Millook Woods was really good and with good tracks it made for a quick pace, especially compared to the coastal path which is always slower walking. Most of the up and down is at the Crackington Haven end of the path, with 3 very close together, and then a section of flattish walking before the pull up to Penhalt Cliff. there’s also the pull up after The Den but it was a more steady slope. Its a great walk throughout though
treksandtors 
My son did this walk (the coastal bit) a few years ago when we were camping at Penhalt. He said it was tough with all the ups and downs (we went bodyboarding down on the beach). I’ve mentally marked this a creat circular route to take in the mix of coast and inland fields/valleys
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The return walk through Millook Woods was really good and with good tracks it made for a quick pace, especially compared to the coastal path which is always slower walking. Most of the up and down is at the Crackington Haven end of the path, with 3 very close together, and then a section of flattish walking before the pull up to Penhalt Cliff. there’s also the pull up after The Den but it was a more steady slope. Its a great walk throughout though
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